Mohammad Azam Khan, after exercising his right to vote, said that the election in Rampur is between the District Magistrate and him but not with the BJP.

"The District Magistrate has created an environment of fear in the district. The DM did not leave any chance to provoke the voters. I never wanted to contest the election but had no options. They harassed me and are trying to shut down my schools," he said.

The lanes of Baba Mohalla, the neighbourhood of the Muftis, wore a deserted look. But a well coordinated network of workers managed to pull voters out of their homes. "There is something that makes me feel bad about voting for any party this time around," Malik added, "But voting today feels as if you are butchering your own family members."

It is party networks like these that the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister hopes will help her pull off a consecutive victory from this seat. But there is huge difference between the Kashmir of 2014, and particularly its southern parts, and the state today. During her rule, after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani, most of the civilian and militant killings that took place over the past three years were reported from here.

Sadhvi Pragya, the BJP candidate from Bhopal held a roadshow on Tuesday before she went on to file her nomination for the polls. A NCP worker reportedly joined the crowd of supporters and waved black flag at the BJP candidate, who was accused in the Malegaon blast case. Angered by this, a few BJP workers surrounded the man and roughed him up before the police could intervene and rescue the man.

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Azam Khan has appealed the voters to cast their vote and to bear any excesses they may have to face only for today. He urged people not to be scared of the "men in uniform". It may be mentioned that Khan has been alleging the District Magistrate and other officials in Rampur have been working for the BJP.

A call centre was busted in Bareilly which was reportedly being run by BJP representatives (name unknown). A police case for violating the election code of conduct will be registered soon as the call centre employees were asking people to vote for the parties, the EC official said.

After having faced one of its worst electoral defeats in the Chhattisgarh Assembly election last year at the hands of the Congress, the BJP's success in this Lok Sabha election heavily depends on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). As the BJP leadership replaced all the candidates in the 11 parliamentary constituencies in the state with new faces — including the most winnable such as seven-term Raipur MP Ramesh Bais — the focus shifted from the candidate to 'Modi and the nation'.

In Chhattisgarh, the RSS very subtly took control of poll management and asked its pracharaks and swayamsevaks to contact the masses on a war-footing.

The Pilibhit constituency looks like a slippery ground for the BJP. The BJP has fielded Sultanpur's sitting MP Varun Gandhi from the Pilibhit constituency and his mother Maneka Gandhi has been given ticket from the Sultanpur constituency.

Maneka Gandhi, has been the six times MP from this constituency. This time, with Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party uniting against the BJP, it will be interesting to see if Varun Gandhi, pitted against Samajwadi Party's Hemraj Verma, will be able to retain his family's bastion.

The Congress has not fielded a candidate from here and has left the seat for its ally Apna Dal. Shivpal Singh Yadav's Pragateesheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) has fielded Haneef Mansoori.

Input by Saurabh Sharma, 101Reporters

13:56 (IST)

Yadav clan flies down to Saifai to cast their vote

Aparna Yadav along with Mulayam Singh Yadav and mother-in-law Sadhana Gupta flies down to Lucknow to cast her vote in Saifai.

Khagaria result to decide if mallah community can influence political discourse in Bihar

Unlike Yadav, Musahars, Koiri(Kushwaha) and Paswans, Mallah (fishermen) community doesn't have its own political party. When Lalu Prasad Yadav started mobilising the lower castes to get political ground in Bihar, he also tried to bring Mallah community in his vote bank along with Yadavs and Muslims. He gave tickets to Mallah community leaders. He recognised the contribution of freedom fighter Jubba Sahani who had fought against British. Hence the Mallah community supported RJD for years.

But, now Mukesh Sahani has floated his own political party, Vikassheel Insan Party whose symbol is boat and river, which is closely associated with the traditional profession of Mallahs. He often says that his first priority is the welfare of his community. He has already created a buzz among Mallahs but it is yet to be seen if it will transform into votes. His win or loss will decide the fate of caste politics in Bihar. The result will also give an idea if mallah community is ready to influence Bihar politics or not.

Umesh Kumar Ray/101Reporters

13:42 (IST)

Chhattisgarh election voting latest update

State's smallest polling booth has just four voters

With only 4 voters to vote, Seradand is the smallest, polling center in the state. This temporary voting center is situated in village, Seradand, which falls under Chandha Gram Panvhayat, of Bharatpur Sonhat, legislative assembly , situated in, Korba district. The voters are, 3 persons of same family and, a goverment worker, who works in the, forest department. Among them, 3 are men and 1 women.

Input by D Shyam Kumar

13:19 (IST)

Akhilesh Yadav casts vote in Saifai, says says UP will give India its new PM

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has said that the country is going to get a new prime minister and he/she will be from Uttar Pradesh. He also alleged that the election commission was actimng in a biased manner. He said that all the new EVMs were sent to Gujarat, while old machines were installed in Uttar Pradesh.

13:11 (IST)

Voter turnout in northern states till 1 pm

Uttar Pradesh

22.90%

Chhattisgarh

29.48%

Jammu and Kashmir

4.72%

Bihar

25.65%

13:05 (IST)

Missing from campaign, BJP's Shahnawaz Hussain turns up to cast vote

Miffed over missing out a Lok Sabha ticket from his traditional cosntituency Bhagalpur, Shahnawaz Hussain maintained his distance from the campaign in Bihar. However, he did come out to cast his vote at Supaul's booth number 151, Kosi Colony, Supaul.

12:19 (IST)

Bihar election voting latest update

Caste equation key factor in Supaul

Congress is largely banking on the image of Ranjeet Ranjan to win Supaul. She has 89 percent attendance in parliament, which is 9 percent above the national average. She had asked 263 questions and introduced eight private member bills. But in Supaul, caste equation play bigger role than personal image of leaders.

JD(U) has fielded Dileshwar Kamat who belongs to extremely backward caste (EBC). Supaul has around 50 percent EBC voters and JD(U) is eyeing on this vote bank. In last few months Nitish Kumar had addressed many EBC Sammelan and announced many schemes for them.

Policemen were found sleeping at Khursheed Inter College booth in Rampur parliamentary constituency.

Input by Shannu Khan, 101Reporters

11:41 (IST)

Chhattisgarh election voting latest update

Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel casts his vote

Input by Hitesh Sharma, 101Reporters

11:40 (IST)

Araria election voting latest update

Lightning strikes near polling booth, one voter killed, another injured

One voter has reportedly died in Araria district after he was struck by lightening when he was going to exercise his franchise. The incident occured at a booth in Firbesganj area where heavy downpour is being reported.

The deceased person was later identified as Dhruv Mandal. Another person Baijnath Mandal was also injured in the incident. Dhuruv and Baijnath were taken to local government hospital in Forbesganj where Dhruv was declared brought dead. Baijnath is being treated. Dhruv was voter if Booth number51 of Pipraghat in Firbesganj. Araria has recorded 22% percent voting till 11am.

Input by Umesh Kumar Ray. Team 101 Reporters

11:36 (IST)

Khagaria election voting latest update

Will Son of Mallah make his way to Parliament?

Bollywood film-set designer-turned politician Mukesh Sahani, popularly called as ‘Son of Mallah’ is contesting the general election for the first time. He is fighting from Khagaria where the Mallah community has a decisive votes. Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and current MP Mahboob Ali Kaisar will take on Mukesh Sahani.

Mukesh Sahani had started politics with NDA back in 2013-2014. He had campaigned with BJP president Amit Shah but after general election he left the NDA. According to Sahani, Amit Shah had promised to fulfill his demands but he didn’t keep his promise.

He then left the NDA and floated his own political party. Later he become part of Mahagathbandhan.

Rampur District Magistrate AK Singh said that he had no knowledge of EVM malfunctions in such large numbers as claimed by Samajwadi Party leaders. He claimed that the few reports of technical snags were closer to what is considered normal, and that all machines were replaced promptly. He said that the polling was underway at all booths normally.

BJP candidate from Rampur, Jaya Prada said, "Azam Khan is scared and this is the reason he has been making such comments against women." She was reacting to the comments of Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam Khan.

BJP supporters have allegedly roughed up an election official at booth number 231 in Sambhal Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP workers have alleged that officer Mohammad Zubair was asking the voters to vote in favor of the Gathbandhan candidate.

#WATCH Moradabad: BJP workers beat an Election Official at booth number 231 alleging he was asking voters to press the 'cycle' symbol of Samajwadi party pic.twitter.com/FokdXCAJ1z

Terming the mismanagement in polls 'criminal negligence', Akhilesh Yadav questioned the scale of EVM malfunctions being reported from the state. He said that reports claim that EC officials are not trained to handle EVMs, as he asked whether the glitches in voting machine were part of a larger more sinister ploy.

EVMs across India malfunctioning or voting for the BJP. DMs say poll officials untrained to operate EVMs. 350+ being replaced. This is criminal negligence for a polling exercise that costs 50,000 crs.

A small intensity blast has been reported in Bandarchua village in Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh. It is being said that it was done to discourage voters from participating in the elections. After the blast, the Chun Chuna and Pundang polling booths have been shifted to other parts of Bandarchua after the blast.

Input by Arun Soni, 101Reporters

10:21 (IST)

Newly married couple turn up at polling station in Firozabad

A bride and a groom turned up at a polling stsation in Firozabad to cast their vote for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections after their wedding ceremony.

On an average, over the course of six Lok Sabha elections between 1996 and 2014, the Samajwadi Party has had a vote-share of nearly 34 percent, while BJP has held a vote-share of roughly 32 percent during the same time period.

Based on seat conversion, among the constituencies that the SP won in 2014, it has never lost Budaun and Mainpuri since 1996 (SP fought for Lok Sabha for the first time in 1996), whereas it has consistently held Firozabad since 1999. In Sambhal, of the five times that the party contested from the constituency, it emerged victorious thrice. Similarly, it has won Aonla, Pilibhit and Rampur twice over the span of six general elections. Now that Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are now contesting as partners with Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) as its third constituent, the break up of votes may change substantially inspite of a so-called pro-BJP mood.

Though, traditionally the Yadav community has been playing a crucial role in picking the elected representative from Madhepura constituency, the scenario has changed after delimitation in 2008.

Earlier Kumarkhand, Singheshwar, Madhepura, Sonbarsha, Kishanganj and Alamnagar Assembly constituencies fell under Madhepura parliamentary seat. However, after delimitation three new constituencies namely Bihariganj, Saharsa and Mahishi were added and three old constituencies were deleted.

These new constituencies have changed the demography of the Lok Sabha seat by adding a sizable number of Other Backward Castes and extremely backward community population. If their numbers in all the Assembly constituencies under the LS seat are added then it will exceed the Yadav population, which constitutes around 25 percent of total population of Madhepura.

Since Yadav votes will be divided amongst NDA, Mahagathbandhan candidates and Pappu Yadav, the backward community’s vote will decide who claims victory.

In 2010 Bihar assembly elections, NDA had won five out of six Assembly seats of Madhepura. According to experts, Nitish Kumar is popular in backward community of Madhepura hence, they may remain with NDA, now that JD(U) and BJP are in alliance.

Jhanjharpur recorded highest voter turnout among all five constituency of Bihar. Till 9 am 11.5 percent voting was recorded in Jhanjharpur. Supaul recorded 8.3 percent polling while Araria recorded 10 percent voting. Madhepura recorded 8.75 percent and Khagaria recorded 8 percent polls.

Vinay Kumar, an officer posted at Khujaria Sampat booth number 86 in Bareilly, suffered cardiac arrest on Tuesday morning. He has been rushed to the hospital where jis condition is stated to be critical.

A call centre was busted in Bareilly which was reportedly being run by BJP representatives (name unknown). A police case for violating the election code of conduct will be registered soon as the call centre employees were asking people to vote for the parties, the EC official said.

Amid Samajwadi Party's allegations that EVMs were rigged to favour BJP, voting has now been stopped at Rani Laxmi Bai Inter college booth number 106 in Mainpuri since over 30 minutes due to technical snags.

Rampur District Magistrate AK Singh said that he had no knowledge of EVM malfunctions in such large numbers as claimed by Samajwadi Party leaders. He claimed that the few reports of technical snags were closer to what is considered normal, and that all machines were replaced promptly. He said that the polling was underway at all booths normally.

A small intensity blast has been reported in Bandarchua village in Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh. It is being said that it was done to discourage voters from participating in the elections. After the blast, the Chun Chuna and Pundang polling booths have been shifted to other parts of Bandarchua after the blast.

Terming the mismanagement in polls 'criminal negligence', Akhilesh Yadav questioned the scale of EVM malfunctions being reported from the state. He said that reports claim that EC officials are not trained to handle EVMs, as he asked whether the glitches in voting machine were part of a larger more sinister ploy.

Samajwadi Party rebel leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is contesting from Firozabad constituency against his own nephew, expressed confidence that he is going to win the elections.

The Samajwadi Party has put out a list of booths in Rampur alleging foul play with the EVMs. They have demanded action from the Election Commission.

A low voter turnout has been reported in Anantnag which falls in the sensitive South Kashmir region.In the Khadgava village in Korba district in Chhattisgarh, a large number of people have turned up for voting in the early hours.

Reports of EVM malfunctioning started coming in within the first hour of voting. EVM snags were reported at booth number 264, 315, 376, 320, 369 and 339 in Kasganj. The Muslim voters in the constituency claimed that this could be a ploy to prevent members of the community from casting their vote. In Bareilly, voting is halted at Mirganj, Dalatpur and CB Ganj polling booths due to technical glitches in the EVMs. Reports of voting machine malfunctions filtered in from Bhagwanta, Fareedpur and booth number 57 in Aonla constituency as well.

The northern states which are set to go to polls in the third phase of the general election are Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Bihar. The third phase of polling for ten Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh will decide the electoral fate of four members of the Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's clan.

In Jammu and Kashmir, polling will be held in a part of the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, where election is being held in three phases due to security reasons. There are 18 candidates in the fray for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, including PDP president and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti. The Congress has fielded its state president Ghulam Ahmad Mir, while former High Court judge Hasnain Masoodi is contesting on the National Conference ticket.

The third phase of polling for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh will decide the electoral fate of four members of the Samajwadi Party (SP) patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's clan, besides those of senior party leader Azam Khan and film actor and BJP candidate Jaya Prada. The BJP had won seven out of the 10 seats in 2014, while the SP bagged three. Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and his two nephews Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav are seeking re-election from Mainpuri, Badaun and Firozabad seats respectively. Mulayam has said this will he his last contest.

Voting will be held in seven Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh — Raipur, Raigarh, Surguja, Janjgir-Champa, Korba, Bilaspur and Durg — of which the BJP had won six in 2014. The Congress, buoyed by its victory in the Assembly elections in 2018, is hoping to improve its tally in the state.

In the high-profile Durg seat, the Congress has fielded its former MLA Pratima Chandrakar, who belongs to the
influential Kurmi OBC community. Durg is the only Lok Sabha seat which the Congress won in the state in the 2014 general elections. After the Congress' win in the 2017's Assembly polls, its Durg MP Tamradhwaj Sahu was inducted into the state cabinet as home minister. The BJP has fielded its former MLA Vijay Baghel, who also belongs to the Kurmi community, in Durg.

In Raipur seat, the BJP has fielded Sunil Soni, vice-president of the state unit, while denying ticket to seven- term MP Ramesh Bais. Soni is pitted against Congress' Pramod Dubey, the mayor of the Raipur Municipal Corporation.

In Bihar, close to nine million voters will be deciding the fates of 82 candidates in Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura and Khagaria Lok Sabha constituencies. Four sitting MPs Ranjeet Ranjan (Supaul), her husband Pappu Yadav (Madhepura), Sarfaraz Alam (Araria) and Mehboob Ali Kaiser (Khagaria) would seek to retain their respective seats.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha election started on 11 April. The first phase witnessed 69.45 percent voter turnout across the country, while election for the second phase was held on 18 April and witnessed 69.43 percent voter turnout.

The result for the Lok Sabha election will be announced on 23 May.

Your guide to the latest seat tally, live updates, analysis and list of winners for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on firstpost.com/elections. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Instagram or like our Facebook page for updates from all 542 constituencies on counting day of the general elections.